2019 recruiting

samloupete

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You can take Kallie Theisen of Wayzata out of the equation for 2019 because she committed to South Dakota State
 


Theisen visited Minnesota and met with Whalen but went with the school that she had been talking with for a long time. Her game is very similar to Cummings so that may have been a factor. I'm not sure she was actually offered by Minnesota.
 

I see by her Twitter post that Cretin Derham Hall's Frannie Hottinger has committed to Lehigh. I don't know if the Gophers recruited her (guessing not?) but I'm curious: Lehigh has four or five Minnesota players on their roster. Anyone know what the connection is or is that just a factor of making a recruiting trip here to see a player such as Hedlund the Younger and then becoming aware of other possible recruits?
 

Lady Gopher recruiting news has been pretty slow coming. Anybody heard anything new?
 


Lady Gopher recruiting news has been pretty slow coming. Anybody heard anything new?

Pure speculation they are recruiting 5'7'' PG Shemera Williams from Milwaukee. She is ranked #42 on Hoopgurlz and is in MN this weekend with WI Playground Elite.
 



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Watched her play three times over the weekend. She is super athletic with impressive leaping ability and hang time but her body language was poor and the defensive effort was sporadic. At times she was outplayed handily by the 8th grader from Wayzata Mara Braun. Mara is very, very good but no way a top 50 junior should let that happen. I would take a pass.
 

https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2018...tball-recruiting-2019-shemera-williams-top-10

Anonymous Eagle puts together some info and video on Shemera Williams.


If a high school star makes a recruiting cutdown and includes Marquette in some fashion, I am 100% here to talk about it. In this case, it’s Class of 2019 point guard Shemera Williams including the Golden Eagles in her top 10.

It’s an interesting list that also includes Big East rival DePaul. The SEC is represented by Georgia and Kentucky, while the Big 12 has two reps as well in Kansas State and West Virginia. Virginia, Minnesota, and Arizona State rounds out the list. Georgia is likely the most traditionally successful program on the list, with DePaul, Virginia, and Arizona State making a case with regular NCAA appearances over the past decade or so. If the idea of staying at home to play college hoops is enticing to Williams, then being a part of Carolyn Kieger’s Phase Two should be a fairly attractive option out of these 10 teams.

ESPN’s profile page on Williams lists her as a 5’7” point guard, and marks her as a four-star prospect ranked #42 in the country and the best player in the state of Wisconsin in the class of 2019.
 

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Raoul lists Jasmine Powell of Michigan as a receiving a recent Gopher offer. And he lists Shemera Williams as getting a Rutgers offer.


https://www.detroitnews.com/story/s...-girls-basketball-state-finals-mvps/33063235/

Class B

Jasmine Powell, 5-8, Jr., G, Detroit Country Day: Powell, a point guard known more for her defense, set the tempo by scoring 12 first-quarter points to give her team a 23-13 lead on its way to repeating as state champions in the 64-48 win over Jackson Northwest. She finished with 19 points, four assists and four steals.
 

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Raoul lists Jasmine Powell of Michigan as a receiving a recent Gopher offer. And he lists Shemera Williams as getting a Rutgers offer.


https://www.detroitnews.com/story/s...-girls-basketball-state-finals-mvps/33063235/

Class B

Jasmine Powell, 5-8, Jr., G, Detroit Country Day: Powell, a point guard known more for her defense, set the tempo by scoring 12 first-quarter points to give her team a 23-13 lead on its way to repeating as state champions in the 64-48 win over Jackson Northwest. She finished with 19 points, four assists and four steals.

It sounds like Whalen is recruiting players who can play good team defense or good role players.
 



Shemera Williams also got an offer from Missouri along with Rutgers. Per her twitter she will be announcing top 6 schools this week sometime.


<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Raoul lists Jasmine Powell of Michigan as a receiving a recent Gopher offer. And he lists Shemera Williams as getting a Rutgers offer.


https://www.detroitnews.com/story/s...-girls-basketball-state-finals-mvps/33063235/

Class B

Jasmine Powell, 5-8, Jr., G, Detroit Country Day: Powell, a point guard known more for her defense, set the tempo by scoring 12 first-quarter points to give her team a 23-13 lead on its way to repeating as state champions in the 64-48 win over Jackson Northwest. She finished with 19 points, four assists and four steals.
 

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Raoul lists Jasmine Powell of Michigan as a receiving a recent Gopher offer. And he lists Shemera Williams as getting a Rutgers offer.


https://www.detroitnews.com/story/s...-girls-basketball-state-finals-mvps/33063235/

Class B

Jasmine Powell, 5-8, Jr., G, Detroit Country Day: Powell, a point guard known more for her defense, set the tempo by scoring 12 first-quarter points to give her team a 23-13 lead on its way to repeating as state champions in the 64-48 win over Jackson Northwest. She finished with 19 points, four assists and four steals.

Powell presumably a pal of Pitts, with whom she'd have played in high school?
 

https://www.theoaklandpress.com/spo...cle_f1497ddd-517a-5e71-987f-d48953f1b617.html

I have no idea whether they are pals; but they were teammates on the Pitts state title team:

It’s a question the Detroit Country Day girls basketball team has had to answer before.

“How will the Yellowjackets replace (insert name here)?”

It was a valid question entering the 2017-18 season as they lost one of the program’s all-time best in Destiny Pitts, who was a four-time All-State selection while with the Yellowjackets and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in her first season at Minnesota.

However, the loss of Pitts didn’t keep the Country Day machine from cranking out another state championship in 2017-18, as the Yellowjackets dominated the Class B tournament, winning every game by at least 16 points as head coach Frank Orlando claimed his 13th state championship.

“People seem to doubt us a lot because of who leaves the program,” Country Day junior guard Jasmine Powell said. “We have had a lot of great players compete for Country Day and every time they leave, people think we won’t be good the next year. I think that it motivates us to show everyone that we will still compete for championships. No one person can win a championship. It takes a team and we all understand that.”
 

According to Prospects Nation, the early top 2019 MN HS Basketball Players are:

1. Destinee Olberg, Holy Angels, P, 5 Stars, 6'2", O/all Rnk 38, Pos Rnk 6, committed to Arkansas
2. Kallie Thompson, Wayzata, F, 4 Stars, 6'1", 103, 21, committed to South Dakotas St.
3. Sarah Stapleton, Centennial, P, 4 Stars, 6'3", NR, NR, uncommitted
4. McKenns Hofschild, Prior Lake, PG, 4 Stars, 5'4", NR, NR, uncommitted
5. Sara Scalia, Stillwater, G, 4 Stars, 5'10", NR, NR, Minnesota

This site may miss a bunch of MN Girls HS players 2018-2019 season. It is early. So, take their list with a grain of salt.

Other mentions in no particular order:
01. Alana Whitfield, Benilde SM, G, 5'7"
02. Alex Walker, Holy Angels, G, 5'7"
03. Alexis Haltman, Forest Lake, G, 5'6"
04. Andrea Gray, MPLS North, G, 5'3"
05. Ana Harvey, Lakeville So, PG, 5'6"
06. Avery New, St. Paul, w, 5'9"
07. Cheyanne Carter, Richfield, G, 5'5"
08. Ella Berg, Elk River, G, 5'8"
09. Emma Anderson, Big Lake, G, 5'9"
10. Emma Mastre, Holy Angels, W, 5'10"
11. Kae Christian, St. Machael-Albertville, G, 5'9"
12. Taylor Scott, Heritage Christian, PG, 5'9"
13. Veronica Quinn, Chaska, G, 5'8"

https://prospectsnation.com/players/all/2019
 

Scalia and Stapleton(been committed to wisconsin for almost a year now) are the 2 best players in the 2019 class imo. That Oberg ranking is wild.
 



Just to link it to this post.
 

According to Prospects Nation, the early top 2019 MN HS Basketball Players are:

1. Destinee Olberg, Holy Angels, P, 5 Stars, 6'2", O/all Rnk 38, Pos Rnk 6, committed to Arkansas
2. Kallie Thompson, Wayzata, F, 4 Stars, 6'1", 103, 21, committed to South Dakotas St.
3. Sarah Stapleton, Centennial, P, 4 Stars, 6'3", NR, NR, uncommitted
4. McKenns Hofschild, Prior Lake, PG, 4 Stars, 5'4", NR, NR, uncommitted
5. Sara Scalia, Stillwater, G, 4 Stars, 5'10", NR, NR, Minnesota

This site may miss a bunch of MN Girls HS players 2018-2019 season. It is early. So, take their list with a grain of salt.

Other mentions in no particular order:
01. Alana Whitfield, Benilde SM, G, 5'7"
02. Alex Walker, Holy Angels, G, 5'7"
03. Alexis Haltman, Forest Lake, G, 5'6"
04. Andrea Gray, MPLS North, G, 5'3"
05. Ana Harvey, Lakeville So, PG, 5'6"
06. Avery New, St. Paul, w, 5'9"
07. Cheyanne Carter, Richfield, G, 5'5"
08. Ella Berg, Elk River, G, 5'8"
09. Emma Anderson, Big Lake, G, 5'9"
10. Emma Mastre, Holy Angels, W, 5'10"
11. Kae Christian, St. Machael-Albertville, G, 5'9"
12. Taylor Scott, Heritage Christian, PG, 5'9"
13. Veronica Quinn, Chaska, G, 5'8"

https://prospectsnation.com/players/all/2019

This list is unbelievably bad. Where to begin? Stapleton committed to Wisconsin a long time ago. Harvey is committed to Lehigh. Several of the names are wrong (Oberg not Olberg, Theisen not Thompson, Hultman not Haltman, Taylee not Taylor...) In the 1-13 list, there is not a single high D1 prospect and only 2 who are D1 prospects at all and both area already signed.
If you want an accurate list of Minnesota talent go to prepgirlshoops.com/minnesota. They update their list three times a year and know the in-state talent better than anyone.
 

These are Prep Girls Hoops current top 2019s:

1. Kallie Theisen (South Dakota State)
2. Destinee Oberg (Arkansas)
3. Sara Scalia (Minnesota)
4. Frannie Hottinger (Lehigh)
5. Massengo Mutanda (unsigned)
6. McKenna Hofschild (unsigned)
7. Kacie Borowicz (North Dakota)
8. Sara Stapleton (Wisconsin)
9. Hanna Purcell (DePaul)
10. Tori Nelson (South Dakota State)

Of the additional players mentioned above, Harvey is 43rd, Whitfield 52, Hultman 59, Walker 76, Anderson 89, New 130, Carter 199, Mastre 200, Berg 206, Quinn 212. Christian and Gray barely play. The only thing I can guess is those rankings are from 5 or 6 years ago when they were just getting started in AAU.
 

My bad. I am glad you gave a new update.
 

I just hope that we land some players that are highly competitive. We need to expand our net and go after players in other states.
 

Looks like you got your pass. Shemera Williams announced top 6 schools.

Depaul, Kansas St, Marquette, Virginia, Missouri and Kentucky are top 6. Missouri wasnt on top 10 list but came after july viewing period.

Removed from Top 10 was Gophers, Kansas, Georgia, West Virginia and Arizona St.

Watched her play three times over the weekend. She is super athletic with impressive leaping ability and hang time but her body language was poor and the defensive effort was sporadic. At times she was outplayed handily by the 8th grader from Wayzata Mara Braun. Mara is very, very good but no way a top 50 junior should let that happen. I would take a pass.
 

Looks like you got your pass. Shemera Williams announced top 6 schools.

Depaul, Kansas St, Marquette, Virginia, Missouri and Kentucky are top 6. Missouri wasnt on top 10 list but came after july viewing period.

Removed from Top 10 was Gophers, Kansas, Georgia, West Virginia and Arizona St.

Wouldnt be surprised if they quit recruiting her. The reports on her this summer werent good, right in line with everything fiveout said.
 
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It appears that Whalen wants players who can play good team defense.

FiveOut watched Shemera being outplayed at times by 8th grader Mara Braun from Wayzata. Poor body language and poor defensive effort is a red flag. FO, is that evident in all the three games you watched?

Whalen should be a great talent evaluator. If she thinks the cons far outweigh the pros on a player, I trust her. We hear her reportedly popping up here and there watching players live. So, I think she is real heavy into recruiting more that we will know. We can't forget that she probably has watched a lot of game films.
 
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They offered Jasmine Powell and Kirsten Deans at pg in the last few weeks and both look like really good defenders, so i think Shemera probably didnt fit what they wanna do. I've also heard Carly really liked some kids overseas at the fiba u17 tournament so they are probably going after them as well.
 

I like the idea that they are casting a wider net not just necessarily home grown talent. However, Whalen does pay a lot of attention to State HS players.
 




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